


Hate

by Ritsucracker



Series: BLoSC Shorts [1]
Category: Buzz Lightyear of Star Command
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Second Chances AU, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-02
Updated: 2019-06-02
Packaged: 2020-04-06 20:17:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19069906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ritsucracker/pseuds/Ritsucracker
Summary: XL and Ty have a heart-to-heart.





	Hate

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a prompt from Mephew-J.
> 
> "Have you ever wanted to hate someone?"

“Have you ever wanted to hate someone?”

XL asked, breaking what Ty realized was an unusually long silence. It was then that he realized he he should have realized something was on XL’s mind. They were out doing maintenance on Tanker Alley, which everyone had to do now and then. Almost no matter how high ranking you got you had to do your time on Tanker Alley. There was something to be said for it keeping people humble and showing that no jobs were unimportant, but it was still tedious and boring. He had mostly zoned out listening to a quiet radio as he cleaned and checked and tuned. So the question had caught him off guard.

“Have I ever wanted to hate someone?” He clarified.

“Yeah. Like…” He paused. “Like you’re mad at them, really mad at them, but you kinda also just want to… Be friends and hangout?”

“Is this about Commander Nebula?”

“… No?” XL denied weakly.

Ty rolled his eyes. 

“Okay, but not just da- Commander Nebula. XR too. And, like, all of Star Command…”

Saturn bless him, Ty thought. He tried to be very serious and professional on duty, calling the Commander by his title instead of ‘dad’ to prove his worthiness. Feeling the need to continually prove himself was the source of a lot of XL’s woes. 

Ty could sympathize.

“Feelings can be very complicated.” He began slowly. “Sometimes you can think you hate someone but you really hate yourself.”

“Oh.” He said in a way that attempted to cover not understanding at all.

“Okay, so… A few years ago I thought I hated Buzz…”

“What? Why?”

“When we worked together, Buzz was really good at his job and he ended up helping me- saving me- a lot. It made me feel like I wasn’t a good ranger.”

“But you are a good ranger.”

“But I didn’t feel like one. People gave me a hard time about being saved a lot and I ended up in a lot of lousy posts because my records don’t look great. I hated myself because I felt like a failure next to Buzz. But it was easier to hate Buzz than to talk to him about how I was feeling. And… He said some things that really hurt me and I was mad about it…”

“Huh.” 

XL had gone very still where he had been working, apparently processing everything Ty was saying and somewhat taken aback by certain revelations.

“But you and Buzz worked it all out, right? I mean, you’re together.”

“Yeah. We talked things out. I told him how he’d hurt me and he apologized. And I apologized for being stubborn and not talking to him about it all. And we just… Started over.”

There was another stretch of silence between them. Ty thought about the heart-to-heart he and Buzz had on the flight away from Canis Lunis. It had felt like a weight had lifted off his chest, leaving him sort of empty and raw but able to breath easier afterward. Buzz had explained himself too, looking smaller, softer, than he had ever seen him, vulnerable and baring his soul as well. 

“I guess the point is that people you care about can make you feel bad and it’s easier to hate them to protect yourself than try to fix the problem.”

It was a simplified lesson but XL was a rather simple robot. He couldn’t claim to be able to explain the intricacies and contradictions of relationships so he didn’t expect him to understand them fully either.

“That makes sense, I guess. I hated myself because da- Commander Nebula had me turned off and I didn’t know why. And I wanted to be XR because he got to be a Ranger and hang out with Dad and have friends. And I didn’t know why he got that and I didn’t. But now I’m a Ranger and I have my family and I have you so I don’t have to hate them or me anymore, I guess.”

“Right.”

“And I didn’t like being evil. It was messy and felt really bad. I like helping people a lot more. And they like me more when I’m helping them, so that’s nice. And I don’t want to be XR anymore. I like this body a lot. It has a lot of storage space. And I like working with you.”

“I like working with you too, XL.” Ty smiled.

“And you’re a really good Ranger. Even if you need to be saved a lot. And you’re my first real friend even if you stole my arm.”

Ty frowned a bit at the hazy memory of the incident.

“Well, at least I haven’t done it again lately.” He said with just a hint of annoyance.

“Yeah. Thanks, Ty. I feel a lot better now.” 

“Good. Now we better get back to work or we’re going to be out here until the sun goes out.”


End file.
